The disclosure relates generally to the engagement and manipulation of additive manufacturing build plates (“build plates”). More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide apparatuses and systems for providing rotatable engagement of a build plate.
The pace of change and improvement in the realms of power generation, aviation, and other fields has accompanied extensive research for manufacturing components used in these fields. Conventional manufacture of metallic components generally includes milling or cutting away regions from a slab of metal before treating and modifying the cut metal to yield a part, which may have been simulated using computer models, e.g., in drafting software. Manufactured components which may be formed from metal can include, e.g., airfoil components for installation in a turbomachine such as an aircraft engine or power generation system. The development of additive manufacturing, also known in the art as “3D printing,” can reduce manufacturing costs by allowing such components to be formed more quickly, with unit-to-unit variations as appropriate, through direct application of computer-generated models and with less expensive equipment and/or raw materials.
Additive manufacturing can allow a component to be formed from a reserve of fine metal powder positioned on a build plate, which is processed by an electron beam or laser (e.g., using heat treatments such as sintering) to form a component or sub-component. Additive manufacturing equipment can also form components, e.g., by using three-dimensional models generated with software included within and/or external to the manufacturing equipment. Some devices fabricated via additive manufacture can be formed initially as several distinct components at respective processing stages before being assembled in a subsequent process. However implemented, one challenge associated with additive manufacturing includes removing several types of waste material and other remains from a build plate after forming a particular component. For example, parts formed from metallic materials may be physically connected to the build plate via a group of supports, which may need to be removed after manufacturing the finished component. These supports and similar components may be positioned in a wide variety of locations, depending on the component(s) being manufactured.